Arts & Entertainment
Lil Nas X “Montero” Video Reaction
Rapper, Lil Nas X, dropped a new video to his song “Montero” and the world is in shambles. In the video, he reenacted parts of the Bible but with a rather wicked twist. There were scenes of him kissing the devil (Satan), dancing on his lap, and even killing him, taking his horns and putting them on his head. He was dancing seductively, while sliding down the pole in his underwear.
Now, as I always say, I AM HERE for creativity and expression because you have to live your truth. I am not utterly disgusted by the video because of his sexuality or anything for that matter. What I am NOT here for is playing with spirits, especially knowing the young fan base that Lil Nas X has.
I believe Nas X is in a position to influence a lot of youth. Granted, kids will be kids, what I don’t like most is the fact that this video opens the door to confusion and curiosity. I can’t imagine how many young people have seen this video and begin to question their God.
There’s so many layers to this topic, in all honesty. Even though this seems like a tough time for our youth, something in me tells me this is a tough time for Lil Nas X as well. After all the talk, he has been posting and responding to people via Twitter. He has mentioned that people always tell him he’s the devil because he like men. He says that he feels like he should be that then.
His remarks make me think. Wow. Could he be venting? Has the church made him feel so unwelcome that he feels the need to seek this type of attention? There’s so much to discuss here. What are your thoughts? Comment below!
MATC to Host Free, Public, Virtual ‘Conversation with Ibram X. Kendi,’ Author of ‘How to be an Antiracist,’ March 31
Milwaukee Area Technical College will host a virtual “Conversation with Professor Ibram X. Kendi,” one of America’s foremost historians and leading antiracist scholars, from 9-10 a.m. Wednesday, March 31, on the Zoom platform. The free, public event will feature Kendi answering questions that have been submitted by the audience.
Kendi has been at the forefront of discussions regarding antiracism. As a campus community, MATC employees read and discussed his book How To Be an Antiracist.
He is a National Book Award winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author of seven books. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon professor in the humanities and the founding director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a CBS News racial justice contributor. He also is the 2020-2021 Frances B. Cashin Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for the Advanced Study at Harvard University. In 2020, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Kendi is the author of The Black Campus Movement, which won the W.E.B. Du Bois Book Prize; and Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2016.
The event is co-sponsored by MATC; MATC’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee; and Milwaukee PBS. It will be moderated by Earl Arms, host of Milwaukee PBS’ “Black Nouveau.” Kendi will be featured on“Black Nouveau” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 8, at 7:30 pm on Milwaukee PBS 10.1.
Space is limited. Pre-registration is required at http://bit.ly/ProfKendiMarch31
Individuals who need accommodations to be able to participate in this event, should submit the request at least 72 hours in advance at https://bit.ly/39igVI.
Wisconsin’s largest technical college and one of the most diverse two-year institutions in the Midwest, Milwaukee Area Technical College is a key driver of southeastern Wisconsin’s economy and has provided innovative education in the region since 1912. Nearly 35,000 students per year attend the college’s four campuses and community-based sites or learn online. MATC offers affordable and accessible education and training opportunities that empower and transform lives in the community. The college offers more than 150 academic programs; and transfer options leading to bachelor’s degrees with more than 35 four-year colleges and universities. Overwhelmingly, MATC graduates build careers and businesses in southeastern Wisconsin. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Sir the Baptist Releases New Single ‘Jesus In The Ghetto’
Sir the Baptist and Anthony Hamilton’s New Single Reimagines the Person of Jesus with ‘Jesus in the Ghetto’
FX’s “Snowfall” Star on New Season and Motherhood!
Lost African-American Gravesites in “UNMARKED”
Streaming begins April 27 on Apple TV, iTunes & Amazon DVD also available on April 27
First Run Features presents the Streaming and DVD Premiere of the new documentary UNMARKED, beginning April 27, 2021.
Throughout the South, vast numbers of African-American gravesites and burial grounds for enslaved persons have been lost or are disappearing through neglect and nature reclaiming the solemn tombstones and markers.
Recently, there has been a rise in the restoration and preservation of these forgotten sites by those who have a personal connection with the deceased or an appreciation of their historical significance.
But there is much work to be done in order to preserve this part of America’s history. UNMARKED not only explores these untold stories of the past but also the efforts underway to preserve them.
Brad Bennett is a Japanese-American filmmaker and award-winning producer based in Virginia. His first feature documentary, Forgive–Don’t Forget, chronicles the search for a family on the other side of the world in order to return an heirloom taken during World War II. The film won the Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2017 Guam International Film Festival. Forgive–Don’t Forget was acquired by Gravitas Ventures in 2018 and released on Hulu in the U.S. and on The Roku Channel and TVP, internationally. Bennett’s work has been supported by IFP, Southern Documentary Fund, Virginia Film Office, A-DOC, and the UCLA Documentary Film Legal Clinic.
Chris is Director for the Study of the Legacy of Slavery for the state of Maryland. He has also served on several boards, including the Historic London Town Foundation, the Jake Savage Foundation, and the Annapolis Arts Alliance Foundation. His script for the 2004 The Reconciliation Walk for Slavery and Penitence held in Annapolis helped garner the Maryland Tourism Council Global Marketing Award for the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation. He is the nephew of Alex Haley, author of Roots.
National Museum of African American Music Opens in Nashville
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
From the hymns of slaves in the 17th and 18th centuries to hip-hop artists’ powerful message in the 20th and 21st centuries, African American artists have created and influenced generations of music lovers.
When Elvis Presley sang “Hound Dog,” he knew he had to pay homage to the African American Blues Legend Big Mama Thornton, who did it first – and better.
“A lot of people seem to think I started this business,” Elvis famously remarked.
“But rock ‘n’ roll was here a long time before I came along. Nobody can sing that kind of music like colored people. Let’s face it: I can’t sing like Fats Domino can. I know that.”
From rock and roll to blues, jazz, and hip-hop, music is as much the African American way of life as the afro was Black people’s style in the 1970s.
Finally honoring that history, the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) has opened in Nashville, Tenn.
According to a news release, it’s the only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the many music genres created, influenced, and inspired by African Americans.
The 56,000-square-foot institution contains more than 1,500 artifacts, objects, memorabilia, and clothing from Black artists.
Complete with state-of-the-art technology, the museum contains seven galleries.
Each is designed to share a different narrative and a unique perspective on Black music and history.
“NMAAM is complete,” NMAAM President and CEO H. Beecher Hicks III declared in a news release. On Feb. 23, Hicks appeared on the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s “Let It Be Known, Breaking News” broadcast to share insights on the new mixed-use downtown development at Fifth and Broadway.
“We have been preparing for this day for more than 20 years, but this museum has actually been more than 400 years in the making,” Hicks remarked.
“We look forward to welcoming music lovers from around the world to this magnificent cultural experience.”
Because of Covid-19, a limited number of visitors currently are allowed inside the museum.
Masks or face coverings are required for entrance, and guests are requested to remain socially distant, officials said.
Once the pandemic ends, tickets will be made available for purchase on the museum’s website for designated timeslots that allow for new tours to start every 30 minutes, museum officials determined.
Displays at the museum include interactive exhibits and such iconic items as “Lucille,” the guitar played by B.B. King, and a kimono worn by Alicia Keys.
Captured in a film overview at the museum’s “Roots Theater,” are the traditions of West and Central African cultures before slavery.
The Rivers of Rhythm Pathways, the “central spine of the museum experience that features touch panel interactives and an animated timeline that links American history and American music history,” officials described on the museum’s website.
A “Wade in the Water” gallery may prove popular among visitors as it explores African hymns.
The gallery connects African cultures’ religious music and later African American spirituals and hymns, including highlighting Mahalia Jackson, Shirley Caesar, Thomas Dorsey, and others.
The “Love Supreme” gallery dives deep into the history of jazz and explores the careers of legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and others.
The “One Nation Under a Grove” gallery relays Motown Records and Soul Train’s stories, while “The Message” gallery explains the origins of hip hop.
“We hope visitors will enjoy learning about the expansive roster of ground-breaking artists who have influenced some of today’s biggest hit-makers,” said Allen Schrott, senior director of Music Products for TiVo/Xperi, a museum partner.
For more details about the museum, visit http://www.nmaam.org.
To view the full interview with Hicks, click here.
Afrofuturist Sci-Fi Game Promotes Diversity While Protecting the Earth
“Is It Time for Reparations?” New Intelligence Squared Podcast
In today’s episode of the Intelligence Squared U.S. debate podcast, two experts debate slavery reparations.
Between 1525 and 1866, more than 12 million Africans were shipped to the New World as slaves. After some 200 years, slavery was abolished, and yet another century of Jim Crow, coupled with discriminatory housing and lending policies, contributed to its legacy. Dealing with the relics of that stain on American history is part of the national dilemma. But exactly how to do it is this episode’s question; something lawmakers in Washington are also now debating.
A top aide to President Joe Biden recently said that the White House will “start acting now” on reparations for African Americans. Some say it’s long overdue. Reparations, they say, are important to start to address the moral injury slavery inflicted. Others say direct payments to African Americans will divide the black community, exaggerate racial tensions and prove impossible to administer.
Arguing that reparations are the way to go on this episode is Cornell William Brooks, former president and CEO of the NAACP.
Arguing that direct payments to African Americans are not the most effective means of addressing the legacy of slavery, and that they could have unintended consequences, is Randall LeRoy Kennedy, an American law professor at Harvard University.
Listen to the Intelligence Squared U.S. podcast here and on all podcast providers: https://smarturl.it/iq2podcast